U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,661 granted to R. A. Marmol on July 22, 1980 and entitled "Bearing Support Structure Combining Fluid Damping and Spring Damping Apparatus" assigned to United Technologies Corporation, the assignee common to this patent application discloses a fluid damper and arcuate spring damper combination. In the structure disclosed in the patent, supra, seals isolate the ends of the fluid filled damping chamber to form a tight compartment for the oil to effectuate damping. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/417,108 filed on Oct. 4, 1989 by R. Carlson and entitled "Fluid Damper And Spring" similarly assigned to United Technologies Corporation discloses a spring that is fabricated from arcuate segments that when assembled surround the bearing and include a plurality of circumferentially spaced oil filled chambers entrapped by a "race track" shaped "O" ring seal also effectuating damping. While these systems, just described above, provide efficacious damping, they nonetheless present certain problems. As for example, the curved beam springs are manufactured to extremely close tolerances which is expensive and are difficult to assemble. In addition, these components are highly stressed and are subjected to wear which are at magnitudes that in certain installations may be intolerable. The "race track" shaped groove for the "O" ring seal is prone to seal blowout. Under adverse circumstances or poor assembly practices the seal can become extruded from the groove and get pinched between the beam and its housing with a consequential destruction of the seal and a subsequent loss of oil and its attendant damping capability.
I have found that I can obviate the problems noted hereinabove by providing a dashpot damper system that is judiciously mounted around the outer race of the bearing supporting the rotor shaft of the gas turbine engine.